Armsmaker-Funded NGO Predicts ISIS Jailbreaks in Iraq, Syria

ISIS loyalists expected to be freed in the coming month

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a pro-interventionist NGO supported largely by grants from large armsmakers like Raytheon and General Dynamics, is predicting a major ISIS campaign of jailbreaks in both Iraq and Syria to free “thousands” of ISIS loyalists.

The report echoes a recent speech from ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, who talked of freeing people from prison camps around the area, and amid recent media reports of ISIS recruiting within those major camps. ISW predicted it would happen in the coming month.

The ISW presented this as a sign of the “unrepentant attitude” of ISIS followers after military defeats in Iraq and Syria. The ISW interest in this story, however, is almost certainly US policy centered, as opposed to a serious prediction of the timing of an ISIS jailbreak.

That’s because ISW’s ideology, and the financial interest of its donors, would benefit from the ISIS war continuing, and from the Trump Administration keeping a large presence in Iraq and Syria waiting for new fights to break out, and always buying the latest costly gear to do so.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.